Thing from Under the Vault
by FightingKentuckian
Summary: A new vault has revealed itself to the Commonwealth, Vault 131. It has been left untouched since the bombs fell, but why? The Survivor's team will find themselves trapped in a vault full of dark secrets and terrors. Will any of them make it out alive? {Experimental piece in my attempt to step out of my usual action/adventure wheelhouse and dabble in some horror.}
1. Any Other Morning

The Sole Survivor took a little longer than usual to roll out of his bed this morning. An ocean wind wafted in through the window into his Spectacle Island home as he wandered into the kitchen area. Piper was already at the table eating breakfast. He sat down across from her, buttoning up the collar of his white shirt.

"Here, I grilled up some of that Radroach meat from the freezer." She shoveled some of the stringy meat onto his plate. "Tastes just like Brahmin, if you douse it in pepper." The Survivor took a forkful and chewed it down trying not to wince at the aftertaste.

"Looks like a storm is coming in off the water." He waved his fork towards the kitchen window and the black storm clouds rolling across the distance. With another bite he spoke with his mouth half full, "Better leave early for the Castle to avoid it." Piper waited to finish chewing before she spoke,

"But the Commonwealth looks so pretty slogging through 3 feet of mud." Her smirky smile accompanied the line. The Survivor rolled his eyes in response and stood up from the table. Grabbing a satchel from a nearby dresser, he started to pack supplies for the trip, noting on his Pip-Boy what he was storing.

"Ah, good morning Mr. Victor." Codsworth had invited himself into the house.

"That's still an odd name, Blue." Piper quipped from the kitchen. She was ignored as the Survivor, Victor, addressed Codsworth.

"G' morning. How's the town looking, buddy?"

"Quite well, sir. I have made my morning round and everyone seems to be healthy and productive. I even saw some traders in the market, apparently they came in late last night." The robotic butler issued his report.

"Good, good. Here, help me with this," Victor handed him part of his combat armor chest piece, "Now, Piper and I are taking our weekly trip up to the fort. So, I want you to keep an eye on the place." Codsworth whirled around with excitement,

"Of course, sir. I shall make you proud." His thrusters blasted him back out to the island proper, eager to help the settlers.

"It must've been nice, having a private butler to do all your housework." Piper had snuck up on Victor and helped him straighten the collar of his General's coat.

"You can borrow him. The Publick office could use a robot's touch." His wit put a smile on Piper's face that let him knew he was being a smartass. She playfully stuffed his fine black fedora on his head and sauntered towards the door,

"We better get leaving… Blue." Victor followed behind, pulling a pair of aviators from his coat pocket.

The once distance storm clouds, now loomed over the Castle as black ink spots, but the rain hadn't yet started. Fort Independence was a buzz with activity. Minutemen preparing for patrols, doing their morning exercise, and improving the aging defenses. Victor walked across the courtyard, the soldiers saluting him, which he humbly returned.

"Those new recruits are shaping up well, Ronnie." The old Minutewoman was assigning push-ups to the greenhorns. Once inside the makeshift War Room, the Survivor was greeted to the sight of fellow friends; Garvey, MacCready, Cait, Hancock, and Curie. They were all standing around the table with a map of the Commonwealth tacked down on it. "Nick didn't make it today?"

"Last I saw, he was working some case for a lonely widow." MacCready looked up at the two new entrees. Victor found a chair to lean back in,

"So, anything interesting boiling up in the Commonwealth?" this question was answered by Preston,

"We have reports of a few settlements needing our help." He pointed towards a few farms on the map.

"Any of it sound like it'd make a good news story?" Piper piped up.

"Sure you could sensationalize anything." Cait muttered. The remark went unanswered as Hancock took his turn to speak at the meeting,

"I still have the Brotherhood poking around Goodneighbor. Going on about how I'm some abomination unfit for life. It's enough to make a guy feel unwanted." Victor leaned up and rubbed the back of his neck,

"First the Institute, now these guys." He whispered to himself, then he spoke aloud, "I'm trying to get Danse & his crew to lighten up on that point." MacCready shook as head hung over the table,

"You know they aren't exactly into listening to opinions that aren't their own."

"If we must, the Minutemen will fight the Brotherhood if they continue this obvious aggression." Preston leaned up from the map, "We didn't free the Commonwealth from the Institute just to have another tyrannical organization take over." The Minuteman had a point, but before the meeting could delve any deeper, a settler entered the room with a winded breath.

"Hey, one of our patrols returned. Say they need to speak to you, General." Victor waved to have them sent in to the War Room. The patrol shuffled into the room with an eager expression on their face. The squad commander began to detail his report,

"Sir, our unit was out patrolling the western front, out around the old Natick ruins." Victor nodded, knowing the location well, "and well, we came across something not on the maps." This caused a collective eyebrow raise, "Found a Vault. Never been open. Number on the door said 131." Now everyone had both eyebrows raised,

"I didn't know there was even a Vault 130." Cait said with a confused sass. MacCready titled his head sideways,

"Heck, I've never seen a Vault go over 114." The squad leader just shrugged his shoulders. He knew what they saw,

"We figured we'd let you crack open that tin can personally." The Minuteman conceded his spoils to the General. The Survivor looked to the room of adventurers,

"Want to put this meeting on hold and go explore?" There was a shared silent agreeance. Victor turned back to the Minuteman, "Thanks for the info. Go ahead and mark the location on my map." With the location of this new, mysterious Vault locked in the 7 of them headed out into the Wasteland.


	2. Forgotten on Purpose

The overcast sky was still heavy on the landscape as the group had made their way to the town of Natick. Heat lightning was flashing across the dark clouds while a light sprinkle of rain foreshadowed the storm to come.

"Why are we even bothering with searchin' a dusty old Vault?" Cait asked out loud,

"Who knows what kind of stories lies in those steel walls. A people untouched by the Wasteland culture."

"Zat would make for a most interesting case study." Curie added onto Piper's thought. Cait wasn't as drawn in,

"I'd say if this Vault were able to stay hidden this long, any chance of culture died out a long time ago." They were soon at the marker the Minuteman placed on the Pip-Boy's map and Preston deposited his two cents,

"If there are people inside, they deserve the same help the Minutemen extend to the rest of the Commonwealth." While he always means well, most of Preston's cheesy sentiment fell on jaded ears.

"You ever get tired of sounding like a Boy Scout all the time Garvey?" Hancock teased the Minuteman with a chuckle. Victor, ignoring the banter, walked towards the Vault door inclined on a steep hill. He could see where the previous patrol had cleared away some brush from the heavy steel door, a giant yellow '131' fading on its face. As the others joined him marveling at the door, Curie glanced around the surrounding area,

"Where iz the platform with ze door activation panel?" she noted the lack of the usual shed housing the door controls. They started looking around for the locking mechanism. Hancock brushed away some caked on dirt from the side of the door.

"Look here." He waved towards the Survivor, "They got the panel on the side of the door." Victor walked over to inspect the controls.

"Huh, that's a new one." He found where the Pip-Boy outlet was, scooped the dirt out of it, and inserted his plug. The Vault door rustled to life. It screeched with an awful sound of rust and age as the heavy door pulled back and rolled away. The opening created by the door was filled with a black void. The incandescent lighting barely casting light onto the wall.

"Well, this is a promising start." Piper's tone issued the statement as sarcastic. The weather finally debuted its promised rain with a crack of thunder. The sprinkle turned into sheets of water as the crew of heroes scurried into the Vault's foyer. Once they were in, the Vault door automatically closed behind them, the locking steel lugs separated them from the rainstorm and the outside. There were no residents of the Vault to greet them as they started across the steel bridge. Water began to dew off of the interior rock surfaces and trickle down the walls. MacCready took a moment to take in the sight,

"Ah, reminds me of home." He took in a heavy whiff of stale air, "Even has the same smell." He said with nostalgic fondness.

"I do not share in your excitement of confined spaces." Curie's eyes nervously darted around. Victor looked at the synth scientist as she began to tremble in fear,

"You alright there Curie?" She pushed her black-rim glasses up and met the Survivor's gaze,

"After so many years being locked in such a small room in ze Vault I find it… unsettling." Victor took a step back to walk closer to Curie,

"Don't worry, we'll take a quick survey of the place and then be out before you know it." Hancock joined the two,

"Sure I have some chems to help you keep mellow." He started to dig around in the various pockets of his wool coat.

"Merci, but I shall be fine, monsieur. I will simply keep focused on my scientific research." She put her noses into the notebook she jotted down discoveries in. They moved farther into the Vault, but still no signs of life were present, only signs of rust and structural decay. Each step revealed a new rusted out floor grate or wall creaking with age.

"These guys must have really liked to party." Hancock quipped out.

"My kind of people." Cait added in. The next door opened up to reveal a long hallway, its end shrouded in darkness. A slow gust of wind wafted from the dark carrying a gurgling noise. Everyone looked around trying to spot what caused it,

"Anyone else hear that?" Preston asked, as he took a forward position. Victor laid a hand on his shoulder to ease the soldier,

"Easy, it was probably just more of the metal settling. Come on, let's find a terminal. See where the people went." With that decree, the group entered into the first door off of the hallway. It seemed to be a typical Vault security office. One ceiling light flickered shadows across the room. Piper started scribbling some notes down in her notepad as Victor took a shot at cracking the security office's terminal. After a few failed attempts, Victor's careful keystrokes turned into smashing his fist on the keyboard.

"Can't get into this damn thing. Know who we need here?"

"Nick?" Piper answered.

"Nick." Victor affirmed her answer. Ever diligent, he made another attempt and luck shined in his favor. There were only a few logs on the screen. Victor took a glance at a few of them, "Nothing of interest. Just a list of shipments, reports of delinquent dwellers, and a game of chess the guard was playing."

"But where are the dwellers now?" Piper asked with legit curiosity, "I haven't seen any skeletons even." Victor could only shrug as an answer. Rising from his chair, Victor motioned for everyone else to follow him deeper into the Vault. Even as they searched deeper, the Vault never opened up into any atrium, just more dark hallways. The creaking walls became more severe, and the support beams were wailing under the centuries of pressure.

Down a flight of stairs, the group was in another hallway, this one hardly lit at all. As the Survivor fiddled for his Pip-Boy light, a sound of scurrying claws on metal sounded at the other end of the hall. This caused a few guns to be raised in that direction. With a hand resting on the revolver in his hip holster, Victor tuned his ears, but the clinking sound was gone.

"Keep an eye out. We might have mole rats." The collection of guns lowered as they continued their survey of the vault. A busted window gave them a view into an empty diner. Cait was first to the door. She turned back to them as the door dropped open with a thud. The cafeteria was just as run-down as the hallway they had previously occupied. MacCready took a seat on a dilapidated bench and examined the destroyed diner. The group's immediate survey turned up nothing. Hancock dropped a rotted magazine down on the counter and started for the door,

"Think I saw a clinic down the hall. Maybe they left some goodies in there." His grainy voice faded as he made his way down the hall. The rest started a deeper search of the current room. As Victor was rummaging through a fridge, Piper ran her finger across the dust settled on the counter. The particles felt thicker than the dust that covered most the Commonwealth. She figured it was made heavier with all the water leaking into this Vault. Victor tossed another empty carton onto the ground and brushed his gloves off on his overcoat.

"Got to admit. This is kinda odd." He remarked out loud. Everyone piqued up to hear what was so odd. 'These boxes. They've all got mold growing on them like the food in them is spoiled, but thing is, they're empty." Curie found herself by his side examining a tin can of Cram.

"De mold could be a result of ze moisture naturally occurring in ze air." She hypothesized. Before anyone could propose an alternate theory, a shriek of pain came from the darkened hallway.


	3. The Dead-Claw

They all funneled into the narrow corridor and headed towards the clinic, the scream's origin. Almost tripping over some uneven floor in the dark, Victor made it into the med-bay first. The only lighting provided for them came from some dim operating table lights. Hancock was leaning against a wall, clutching a bloodied side. Cait knelt down and pulled his hand away from the wound,

"What'd you do, ye bloody fool?" she asked with a jest to improve his mood. He winced as he spoke,

"I was digging through…" he took a moment to catch his breath, "one of those first-aid boxes," he pointed towards an empty box with Mentats spilling out of it, "when something blindsided me." He leaned back, the act of speaking seeming to be extremely laborious. Cait took one of the old mayor's arms over her shoulder and helped him up. Preston and Victor ran out into the hallway with the hopes of catching the 'something' that got their ghoulish friend. There came a gurgling echo from the unexplored end of the hall. The two rushed towards the sound and away from the group. The next growl came from the bottom of a flight of stairs.

"Half a league, half a league downward." Victor mumbled to himself as he led them down the stairs. This third floor introduced a new rank of decrepit. The floor grates were busted into pieces with mounds of dirt separating them, the metal sheets of the wall were peeling off their support beams. The stiff air in this corridor held an even louder sound of gurgling. The primordial growl seemed to emit from the other end of the hallway. With their firearms pointing towards the darkened end, Victor shone his light down there.

"Who goes there?" he ordered in the deepest voice he could command. His Pip-Boy light illuminated two yellow eyes standing at about human height awaiting down at the other end. There was the loudest roar they had heard yet in return. That provocation was all it took for them to open a hail of fire on the beady, hovering orbs. Over the sound of bullets and laser fire, the hallway erupted with a groaning shriek as the set of glowing pupils lowered until they settled on the floor. Victor raised his hand for a cease fire as they stalked closer to the fallen target. A ghastly shadow was cast from the figure that revealed it to be a frail Deathclaw. While the two Minutemen stood over the beast, there came a flurry of footsteps from the stairs. A quick turn revealed Piper & Curie coming down the steps. Curie hurried over and started examining the specimen. Everyone else watched hesitantly, unsure of the mortal status of the Deathclaw. Piper placed an arm around the Survivor's waist as she viewed the horrific sight.

After some time of poking and prodding, the French synth looked back at the rest of the group.

"Look here at ze skin," she waved for the others to come in closer, it went unheeded, "Zere is an unusual green pigmentation to it. And here," she brushed her hand up against its hide, "It 'eems to have growths of, what appear to be, grass." She diagnosed while holding up long, weedy strands of prairie grass protruding from the beast's shoulders.

"Never seen a Deathclaw take up gardening." Piper piped in, now jotting down some notes. Curie didn't have a remark for the sarcastic mark, instead continuing her disposition,

"And zis Deathclaw, it is extremely famished. You can see ze bones protruding against ze flesh; 'ere and 'ere." She pointed out several spots where the monster's leather hide was taught against its thick skeletal structure. She stood up from the corpse and made her prognosis,

"Zat fact, coupled with its meager size for a male of its species, leads me to believe zis Deathclaw 'as been dead for at least 10 years." There was a collective eyebrow raise.

"That thing wasn't dead until we shot it." Preston insisted. Victor piggy-backed off his statement,

"And it had to be living to put that gash in Hancock's side." Before Curie could answer the inquires, Piper gave Victor a look of sudden realization,

"Hancock! We better go check on them, Blue." The four left the hulking mass and started back up the stairs. MacCready was in the hallway with Cait towing Hancock behind him.

"What did you stir up down there?" MacCready shouted from across the hall. As the Sole Survivor approached the ex-Gunner, the Vault let out a tremendous shake and all the lights were silenced with a pop. Everyone stopped in their tracks as the Vault was pitched into darkness. Victor's Pip-Boy light was able to produce just enough light to cast some shadows down the depreciating hallway.

"Well, this is just bloody great! I expect that door won't be opening without power?" Cait's simmering anger made her accent thicker sounding as she threw up her hands, causing the mayor in her care to fall to the ground with a groan. Victor quickly responded by lowering her arms gently,

"We'll just have to make our way back down to the reactor and get the power back up. No biggie."

"I'll go with you." Preston said like the eager Boy Scout he was. While the Minuteman cranked up his musket, the laser battery producing an ambient red light, Hancock, who had remained silent save for a few winces of pain, started to groan and emit guttural sounds. Everyone looked back at the wounded ghoul to see him pick himself up as if his bleeding side wasn't bothering him.

"Hancock, buddy?" Piper's voice was raising in pitch, "You, ah, feeling alright?" he didn't respond with any verbal retort, instead lurching towards the group with more groans.

"Hancock? Speak to me." Victor ordered with a raised hand. The words seemed to fall on deaf ears. "Hancock!" the former mayor did not heed the call. The Survivor's neck muscles tensed up as he acted on his next move. His raised hand lowered to embrace the handle of his .44 revolver which then pointed its barrel at the incoming ghoul. "Hancock. Stop…" he had a moment of hesitation, "stop, or I'll have to shoot."

"He's gone feral. We've got to put him down." Came a call from behind Victor. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed MacCready issued the command while peering down his scope. Victor turned back around to see Hancock had picked up his pace and hissed like a wild animal. Before he could contemplate it any longer, the Minuteman General fired off a round towards Hancock's midsection. The shot caused his body to ragdoll backwards onto the metal floor , but didn't deter his fury. MacCready eyed the ghoul's head through his crosshairs and sent a round towards the rising Hancock only to knock him back down. The rebellious chem addict still raised up from the ground. This prompted MacCready and Victor to both fire another shot off, which resulted in similar effects. As Hancock came into arm's reach, Preston stepped in and fired off his laser musket. The hot beam cut into the ghoul mayor and instantly turned his head into a pile of ash. Victor slowly lowered his revolver, soaking in the effect of the previous moment.

"What the heck was that about, Blue?" came a slightly quivering question from Piper. While the revolver found its home solemnly, its owner address the reporter,

"The shock of that wound must have turned him feral?" was the best answer he could provide.

"But being feral doesn't make you bulletproof." She pointed out the ghoul's resilience. Victor shuffled over to the reporter and placed a hand on the red trench coat at her waist. Before answering, he pulled his shades off and stuffed them in his coat pocket,

"I'm not sure why." Preston was next to approach them.

"General I recommend we get the power back up." Victor stepped back from Piper and nodded in agreeance with his 2nd in command. Cait's head titled back some,

"Ye realize you just sent our pal out in a fiery blaze." Her anger was still at a simmer. Preston did not say anything in response. This aggravated the Irish lass, who took the Minuteman by the shoulder, "You hear me?" she grunted as she spun him around to face her. A defiantly somber expression met her gaze. He brushed her arm away and started towards the dark hallways. Not standing for it, Cait picked up a rusted piece of scrap iron. Drawing back her arm, she sighted in Garvey's head. The projectile would've hit its mark had Curie not interrupted with an exclamatory noise,

"Monsieurs! Look 'ere." She held up the arm of the headless ghoul to expose his Deathclaw wound. "Zere is a green tint to his skin, much like ze Deathclaw." Victor furrowed his brow in concern.

"What's she talking about?" MacCready inquired. Curie eagerly explained,

"Zat Deathclaw zese two killed." Her head motioned to Preston and Victor, "had an unusual green skin tone." MacCready pushed his hat up in disbelief,

"So, what? Its cut infected Hancock with a 'crazy' disease?" Curie sheepishly shook her head 'yes', but the mercenary was unconvinced.

"Maybe the previous dwellers had the same issue." Victor suggested, "We should take a deeper look in the med-bay." With an uneasy silence, all five headed into the dark clinic. Curie froze just inside the doorway.

"Zis reminds me very much of ze laboratory I spent…" she shuttered at the darkness, "so many years locked away in." Piper came to her side, putting a calming grasp on her wrist. The obnoxious reporter summoned the best soothing voice she had,

"Hey, don't worry. You aren't in here alone now." The French scientist took a deep breath with closed eyes. Regaining her composure, she thanked Piper and continued in.


	4. Fungus Among Us

Victor and MacCready were jerry-rigging a terminal to a fusion core the Survivor had brought along. After a few sparks from straying wires, the terminal clicked to life, the only light in the dark med-bay. The Minuteman General sat down and started reading the data logs left from the previous doctors.

"Okay," he leaned back in the chair, "I can't make heads or tails of this." A suggestion came from Cait,

"Why don't we let the walking encyclopedia take a crack at it?" she motioned to Curie. Victor got up from his chair and waved for the synth to take a seat. After sitting down, she clicked away at the terminal scanning all the logs for information. She threw a petite hand over her mouth to cover her gasp,

"Oh my!" everyone waited with baited breath for an explanation for the exclamation, "Zey were experimenting with strains of Beauveria Mordicana." For the rest of the group this went over their science-deprived minds, but Victor did remark,

"Bavarian Mordecai? Think I remember seeing that on the security terminal as an import from a Big Mountain Research Labs."

"Oui, Beauveria mordicana. Ze scientist 'ere developed far beyond ze samples sent from Big Mountain." This cast a cloud of concern over the six companions.

"It would infect a host to feed and take control of zem from ze inside. When ze 'ost would die, ze fungus would keep zem animated as if nothing 'ad happened."

"So, that wasn't Hancock that attacked us?" Victor asked, trying to wrap his head around the concept.

"Ze fungus 'ad been feeding on zat Deathclaw for decades. It tried to infect Hancock, but could not sustain itself on his ghoul body, so it took over and attacked." They all looked around at each other.

"Well, at least we nipped it in the bud." Came Piper's dark humor. Rubbing his temples, Victor made an address,

"Come on. Let's get the lights back on." He insisted and they all left the med-bay for the reactor down stairs.

Once they reached the dark, decrepit 3rd floor, MacCready and Cait saw the aforementioned Deathclaw. Some cautious steps around it put them on the short staircase to the reactor room. Approaching the silent nuclear engine, the group examined the machine.

"Looks like it blew a fusion rod." Victor looked around, "Sure we passed some storage rooms back there." Avoiding the Deathclaw carcass, the group split up to search the various rooms. Victor, Piper, and MacCready ended up searching the largest room together. It was quickly determined the room they were in was no warehouse.

"Why would they have a second clinic down here?" MacCready asked, straining his eyes in the dark. Victor was occupied typing on some keys on an unresponsive terminal. Standing over a bed, Piper answered MacCready's question,

"I don't think this was a clinic." The two men joined her, "And I think I found our Vault Dwellers." Victor's Pip-Boy flashlight illuminated a set of beds filled with dry skeletons, their bones breaking down into dust. MacCready's face was the definition of a grimace. Taking a step back from the macabre scene, Piper spotted a glow emanating from a cramped corner of the lab,

"How's there a light with no power, Blue?" the question was rhetorical as Victor had noticed the light too, and started towards it. The humming glow revealed the only working terminal in the lab.

"Now, why would this one computer have its own power supply?" the Survivor asked as he took a seat in front of it. The answer revealed itself when he clicked on the first log saved into the computer and a scratchy voice came through the speaker,

"This is Dr. Raymond Carpenter, project lead on the Vault 131 Research. Under the cover of secrecy, my team has begun to work on the X-22 specimen. I expect human trials ready within the first month." While the college-educated voice droned on some more science goals, the three friends made eye contact with each other.

"Go ahead and skip to the last entry." MacCready grew impatient. Victor selected the last log inputted by the good doctor. This time his stately voice seemed winded as static inhabited the background,

"This is Dr. Raymond… Carpenter, project lead on the Vault…" there was an audible exhale, "Vault 131 disaster. Our experimentation into Beauveria mordicana manipulation has created a monster. We've lost control of the test subjects. The fungus seems to spread without our explicit interaction or our knowledge. Jill Brimley was infected, but we didn't catch it till two weeks after the fact. It's as if the damn thing has become a sentient creature..." there was the sound of a crash in the audio's background, and the doctor's voice fainted away from the mic, "No, no. Get back." After a muffled roar, the audio log cut out. Taking off his hat to run his fingers through the combed brown hair, Victor huffed in shock. You could hear the creak of old beams in the silence. A high-pitched scream drug everyone out of their trance. Jumping up from the terminal they all rushed to the hallway. Preston Garvey entered the corridor around the same time.


	5. Friends as Strangers

"It came from Curie and Cait." He led them into the storage room the two ladies had been searching in. Behind a row of boxes they saw Curie hiding from Cait, who had since developed green skin and vine-like tendrils.

"Shit! She's one of the things." MacCready shouted as he raised his rifle barrel. The others followed and started to open fire on her. Cait turned from pursuing the French scientist to acknowledge the bullets flying at her. She seemed to shrug off the chunks of lead as if they were raindrops. Then came the signature sound that identified the firing of a laser musket. Preston's bolt cut into her leafy shoulder. In a staggering state, she clutched it in pain. Two wires finally clicked in the General's mind.

"MacCready, hold your fire." He ordered while placing a hand on Piper's pistol to stop her onslaught. Preston, cranking his musket back up, looked at his commanding officer with concern, but Victor ignored it. He pulled out a Molotov from his satchel and set the oily rag on fire. An underhanded toss sent the bottle crashing at the feet of the Cait-thing. The flames quickly climbed up her body, setting a blaze to the fungus growths. "Do it." Victor ordered to his Minuteman. Preston raised his musket once more and sent a blazing blast at the head of a former friend. She fell with a thud, the Molotov fire consuming her form. Piper quickly went over to help up Curie, while Preston stood next to his General. He shoved the musket into his chest, the wooden stock clanking on Victor's combat armor chest piece. Their eyes met in a tense stare.

"I'm tired of killing my friends." Preston's look was not somber like when he ended Hancock, but quietly determined. Victor instinctively wrapped his arms around the gun and was left holding it as Garvey went to check on Curie. MacCready hadn't moved from his spot yet, instead opting to yell his thoughts across the room,

"She must have been infected from Hancock's wound." He looked around putting the pieces together, "And Cait touched you." MacCready lifted up his rifle and set the crosshairs on Curie. Victor was too busy intently staring at the musket in his arms to listen to the ex-Gunner.

"MacCready, put that gun down." Piper was angered by his brashness. Through a startled expression, Curie defended herself,

"I cannot be infected by bacteria. I am a synth, monsieur." The mercenary was unpersuaded,

"That's not a gamble I can take." Before the poor girl could defend herself, Piper stepped in,

"Quit the theatrics. She isn't a monster." MacCready steadied his gun now towards the reporter,

"Yeah, why? Maybe you're the monster?" Victor finally came back to his senses and defused the scene. He stared down at the ex-Gunner,

"Put the gun down. This isn't accomplishing anything."

"No can do, boss. You heard those logs." MacCready disobeyed his command. Victor took a moment to think before he risked speaking again, but the mercenary kept his scope steadied on Curie. There would be no retort from the Survivor as Preston had silently made his way behind MacCready in the dark and knocked him in the back of the head. Recoiling from the blow, MacCready loosened his grip, allowing Garvey to take the rifle from him. Regaining his composure, the mercenary turned around to meet Preston, "What the Hell?" Preston pulled the clip out of MacCready's rifle and tossed it into a dark corner of the storage room. It landed with a clank behind some molding boxes on a shelf.

"She's a friend." Preston offered in defense as he handed the rifle back to its rightful owner. The ex-Gunner pulled it out of the Minuteman's hands with a gust of force,

"You didn't hear what I heard, Boy Scout." He then made eye contact with the synth, "That fungus just has to touch you to infect you."

"I assure you monsieur. I am extremely 'ealthy." MacCready decided not to argue the point any farther, but he kept a careful eye on her nonetheless.

Let's find that rod and get the reactor fixed." Victor tried to distract everyone to a new topic.

They searched around this warehouse, being cautious of what they touched. Victor set the musket on a nearby crumbling shelf and started handing Piper some heavy boxes to set on the floor.

"Hmm. Cracker rations, water chips, and Erlenmeyer flasks. Thrilling." Her usual sarcastic tone didn't accompany this joke. The tone caused Victor to stop clearing shelves. Looking into her eyes revealed concern that she usually hid so well.

"What's bothering you?" he asked with sincerity as the other companions continued their search. Piper began to speak as the solitary Pip-Boy light put a warm glow on her smooth facial features,

"Just," she took a quick inhale and exhale, "a lot on my mind." Victor cocked an eyebrow, expecting more. Piper looked down at the rusted floor to avoid eye contact, "What MacCready said. You heard the log too, Blue. What if one of us is infected without knowing? What if it's me? What if we shouldn't open that door? Imagine this thing loose in the Commonwealth." The squeaky pitch of Piper's voice raised as she contemplated the ideas.

"Hey," Victor pulled her out of the 'what if' scenarios by placing a finger under her narrow chin, "We're going to make it out alright. We've gotten out of worse." He leaned back, "Like that time outside of Easy City Downs?" thinking back to the event brought a little smile to the reporter's face,

"Everything was going fine until you tripped over that assaultron." She jested. Victor only smiled in return and went back to handing off boxes.

For a while, the only sounds emitted in the Vault were those of dripping dew, the shuffle of boxes, and the clattering of metal shelves rusting in half. As the dust stirred up across the room, Preston pulled out a metal box from the back of a shelf. Examining the case revealed the words 'reactor cores' etched into the steel.

"Hey, is this what we want?" he shouted to the others holding the case above his head.

"Bring it over here into the light." The General insisted. Curie took the case and set it on a table. She popped open the locks and quickly had an answer,

"Zese are what we need." The case slammed shut and she led the group out of the storeroom.

In the hallway, Curie recommended they all wait on the steps descending to the reactor core, "Zis new rod may prove temperamental, but I should be able to make it work." They stood waiting behind the archway as she approached the main reactor. There was a palpable hesitation among the onlookers as the scientist carefully removed the old rod, placing it gently on the ground. Opening the metal case, Curie handled the glowing rod capsule with care. She gently placed it in the open receptacle. With the new rod in its housing, she closed the hatch and threw the switch on the side of the generator. There were some hisses and crackles as the reactor shot to life. Blue lightning started to jump across the coils. One of the pylons built up too much energy and sent a strike of electricity into a nearby regulator console. Curie tried to furiously flip switches on the generator as the machine built up unregulated masses of energy expulsions.

"Curie!" came Victor's shout from the door. "Get out of there!" he could see the whole situation going south.

"Do not worry, monsieur! I just need to stabilize ze outputs." She insistedly shouted, trying different combinations of levers. Victor started towards her, but as a massive electrical blast unleashed itself the security blast door closed, locking Curie in the reactor room. Lights returned to the Vault in the form of flashing red alarms.


	6. Nature Lover

Throwing his fists against the blast door, Victor shouted out the French synth's name, but the sound of crackling power from the other side out ruled it. Preston, fiddling with the door controls, tried to get the door open with little avail.

"The security protocol overrode the reactor door. I can't get it open." Ceasing his beating, the Survivor leaned against the door,

"We can't just leave her in there." He argued.

"Well, this isn't the way we can get in." Preston rebutted, "You were a Vault Dweller. You know any other ways in?" Victor thought, but he really did have limited knowledge of the underground bunkers.

"We've got the way out now. I say we get out of this Hellhole." MacCready proposed his plan.

"And just leave Curie in there alone?" Preston inquired, with Victor backing him up.

"You know she didn't survive that. Red lights don't usually signal 'everything's okay'." Came the mercenary's pessimistic response. Victor took a step closer, putting Preston behind his right shoulder,

"That a chance you want to take MacCready? To leave a fellow human, a friend, for dead?" The reply was not instant as the ex-Gunner looked down in thought, finally finishing his meditation with a loud huff,

"We're being hunted by a plant monster. For all I know, you could be one of the things. I have a chance to leave now. I will not die plant food, I will see my son again."

"And what if you're infected?" Preston postulated. This put a sad smile on MacCready's face,

"I know." He waved a pointed finger at his chest, "I know I'm not one of those things." He threw his arms down and made eye contact with each three individually, "And I know you all can't be one of those things, or else you'd have attacked me by now. So, I'm leaving." He turned from them and walked up the stairs, dim emergency lights lighting the way. Victor went after him, while Preston and Piper still held hope for freeing Curie. Chasing MacCready up the stairs, Victor tripped on an even floor and stutter stepped to catch himself,

"MacCready." He wanted his attention, "MacCready! Listen." Had they not become friends since before the attack on the Institute, the mercenary may've kept walking, but he obliged the request and turned around. Victor didn't waste his chance, "We can't leave." He took a breath, "we just can't."

"Why not?" he asked with a hint of surprise.

"Like Preston said, you could be infected." He was cut off before he could continue,

"I told you. I wasn't infected." MacCready was defiant in his stance, then realizing he stood in the stale air alone with the Sole Survivor, he picked up his rifle, "Are you infected?"

"I don't know, I don't think I am." These words didn't ease the uneasy merc, "If you're wondering if I want to chow on your jugular. No, no I don't." This still didn't make the rifle lower, but MacCready did take a relaxed stance. Victor sighed in relief and continued his original thought, "If even one of us is infected, think what that would mean to the outside world. Preston goes back to the Castle, then what, this fungus would have free reign." MacCready started to think on the prospect, his eyes starting to gaze off, "If you go back to your son. That a gamble you'll take." This brought MacCready out of his 100 yard stare,

"I told you, I'm still human." His voice was softer this time, not as assured.

"Remember that audio log? This thing can lay dormant for as long as it needs to. Took two weeks to find it in that one woman. And that was with Vault-Tec science." Victor continued his train of logic. All this talk tensed MacCready back up and his rifle aim became more aggressive,

"So what then… Victor? We never leave? We sit here and wait to die?" he took a step backwards, never wavering from his target, "This isn't where RJ MacCready dies." The Survivor took his hat off and rubbed the top of his head, before he could get out an answer a shrill screech came from the direction of the reactor blast door.

"Damn, why's this keep happening?" Victor grumbled as he and MacCready responded. They charged down the stairs to find Preston laying on the ground in a heap leaking blood. Standing an extra 2 feet over the fallen Minuteman was a mutated Piper, though her face was nearly unrecognizable covered in plant life. Her skin was a deep forest green and leaves prodded out from the holes in her red trench coat. When the Piper-thing saw the two new players a guttural hiss bellowed from her lungs. "Piper… no." Victor whispered as he stood there dumbfounded. MacCready, however, wasted no time sighting in the monster. As she started towards them, he pulled the trigger only to be met with a click. Thinking quickly, MacCready unshouldered the gun and looked to see the clip was still missing,

"Damned Boy Scout." He muttered and looked over to Victor who was still in shock. The Survivor didn't even notice when MacCready pulled out the .44 from his leather holster and leveled it at the charging thing. The first shot rang out and hit Piper in the leg. The thud of the bullet brought Victor back to reality.

"Back out of here MacCready." He commanded as they started up the stairs to the 3rd floor with the thing in pursuit. They were back on the 3rd floor with MacCready in the lead. As the Piper-thing topped the stairs, he fired off a shot towards its head. It did little, but aggravate it. "Hang on. I got this!" Victor ordered as he opened a door to the storage room. He waited for the Piper-thing to near him, and when it did, he grappled it. The beast was much stronger than the Survivor, but he was able to direct it into the warehouse. The two tussled inside while MacCready came towards them. "Stay back!" Victor shouted as he shoved the thing off into a shelf that crumbled into scrap metal. While it struggled to untangle itself from the mess, the Sole Survivor kicked over two nearby cans of kerosene that leaked onto the floor. By the time the Piper-thing got up, the fuel had covered most of the area around both it and Victor. He grabbed the laser musket that was left to him by his former 2nd in command. Sticking the barrel in the kerosene puddle, he started to crank the lever incessantly. "I'd shut the door, MacCready." Came Victor's suggestion over the roar, but MacCready didn't think fast enough. Still cranking the musket lever, Victor kicked the door panel and closed the door. MacCready could hear when the laser battery overcharged and exploded. Inside Victor and Piper were consumed in a great ball of fire that shook the whole room. Flimsier shelves were melted by the extreme release of heat. MacCready had to stand back as the residual heat was too overpowering. The ex-Gunner stood there in the hallway, alone.


	7. MacCready's Luck

The walk back up the stairs to the main Vault door was a quiet one for MacCready, even the creaking metal and dripping water seemed to silence for him. The bold yellow numbers of '131' came into view. Stuffing Victor's revolver into a pocket of his tattered duster, MacCready examined the numbers plastered on the heavy lug door. As he looked around the entrance hall, a small smile spread across the ex-Gunner's lips at the prospect of going home. He followed along the water-stained wall to find the door operation mechanism. The panel buzzed with discontent as MacCready pecked away at buttons. Even after a few more button pushes, the Vault door didn't spark to life. MacCready took a step back to examine his situation. He then realized the door still required a Pip-Boy plug in to operate, and the nearest one was on a burnt corpse. Walking over the door, MacCready took a seat under the massive yellow '131'. He leaned his head back against the metal door, the cool dew felt good seeping through his hat. His mind started to wander back to what the Sole Survivor said. Could he really be a thing? Should he risk letting it out of this vault? Propping his arms up on his knees, he made no plans to go down into the Vault for the Pip-Boy. Instead he muttered to himself,

"Why don't I just... wait here for a little while... see what happens?"


End file.
